It’s getting easier to snap up red snapper. The sought-after game fish has been at the center of a years-long debate between environmentalists who want to protect the iconic species while it continues to rebuild from overfishing and recreational anglers who contend years of economically crippling restrictions have paid off and it’s time to go fishing again. After eight years of policies under President Obama that emphasized protection, there’s now a rising tide of momentum under the Trump administration to loosen restrictions in the federal waters off the Southeastern United States. Already: • Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in June expanded...

Robert Mueller is looking into President Trump's business transactions as part of the ongoing probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russians who sought to influence the 2016 election, according to a Thursday report by Bloomberg.

TEXAS CITY, Texas (KXAN) — There’s no doubt Tim McClellen will be framing the picture of him with the massive, record-breaking hammerhead shark he caught over the weekend. McClellen won 1st place when he caught the 1,033-pound shark in the 55th Annual Texas City Jaycees Tackle Time Fishing Tournament on July 9. His catch smashed the 871-pound record set in 1980 in the Gulf of Mexico.

Britain is pulling out of an agreement that permits fishermen from five other countries to operate in U.K. waters, the first step in reasserting control over its fishing industry as it prepares to leave the European Union. The government announced Sunday it will trigger the two-year process of leaving the London Fisheries Convention, which allows vessels from France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands to fish between six and 12 nautical miles off the U.K. coastline. Britain signed the convention before it joined the EU and would be bound by its terms after leaving the bloc unless it starts to...

Rock & roll legend. World-class guitarist. Record-setting angler? Turns out that Eric Clapton, one of the greatest musicians of all time, is just as good with a fly rod as he is a guitar. Clapton, while on a fly-fishing trip to Iceland last week, landed a 28-pound salmon on the Vatnsdalsá River, setting the record for reeling in the biggest salmon of the summer. The massive fish measured 42.5 inches. Working with Vatnsdalsá guide Sturla Birginsson, Clapton had to run over half a mile downriver after hooking the monster, and spent two and a half hours reeling it in. The...

In the Bering Sea, near the edge the continental shelf, fishermen are trying to escape a predator that seems to outwit them at every turn, stripping their fishing lines and lurking behind their vessels. The predators are pods of killer whales chasing down the halibut and black cod caught by longline fishermen. Fishermen say the whales are becoming a common sight — and problem — in recent years, as they've gone from an occasional pest to apparently targeting the fishermen's lines. Fishermen say they can harvest 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of halibut in a single day, only to harvest next...

A Florida fisherman lost $2.8 million in prize money after he was disqualified from a fishing tournament in Maryland for failing a polygraph test. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Phillip Heasley, of Naples, the winner of the 2016 White Marlin Open tournament in Ocean City, Maryland that took place in August 2016, would be disqualified from the tournament, and 13 other contestants who won other competitions would split the prize money, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Is there a worse feeling in the world than when a big fish breaks your line? But very few get a shot at redemption on the same fish. Thats what happened to this AnglerWatch as he hooks into a big gar and loses it. But he gets a second chance when they just happen to run across the float a couple of hours later… is just a crazy fishing tale! It’s great that he’s got it on video. Not many would likely believe the story otherwise. That was some excellent work to get the line re-tied without spooking the gar...

In another move to free up domestic energy supplies, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at lifting the Obama administrationÂ’s offshore drilling restrictions.For decades, bad policies have blocked access to AmericaÂ’s abundance of domestic resources, yet America has still managed to be a global energy leader. TrumpÂ’s executive order, Â“Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy,Â” could unleash further success in the energy sector.The economic potential sitting just off AmericaÂ’s coasts is enormous. The Outer Continental Shelf is awash with natural resources, containing an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.Realizing...

Youtubers Bowmars are at it again with some sweet bowfishing action! The Bowmars sleep and breathe outdoors, especially bowfishing. Here's a recent clip to show how passionate they are is some clips from their resent bowfishing trip. With bowfishing becoming more and more popular, it is always cool to see people like the Bowmars stepping out and getting in on the action. The cool thing is that it is a sport that doesn't take much money to get into at all. Picking up a simple bow kit, and making time to get out on some local water is all you...

A proposed Constitutional amendment to “Establish the Right to Hunt and Fish” drew angry testimony from the anti-hunting and anti-trapping crowd. “This bill is barbaric,” testified John Glowa of China, who called LD 11 “the worst piece of legislation I have seen in more than twenty years of coming before this committee, and I have seen some bad ones.” Glowa also called the bill “the poison fruit of the paranoia seed planted by the out-of-state gun lobby and by radical extremist consumptive users.” And yes, that was way over the top. Katie Hansberry of the Humane Society of the United...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A company that makes fishing boats plans to expand its operations in South Carolina and hire another 370 employees. The state commerce department said in a news release Thursday that Scout Boats plans to spend nearly $11 million on the expansion of its operations in Summerville. The company plans to add several new models to its product line. Scout Boats makes a variety of coastal fishing boats ranging from 17 feet to 53 feet in length....

Wal-Mart really soiled his reputation. A Montana professor is suing Wal-Mart for libel because an employee listed the academic’s occupation as “toilet cleaner” on a fishing license application. Montana State University assistant professor Gilbert Kalonde bought a state fishing license from a Wal-Mart in April 2015, and a store employee used Kalonde’s MSU I.D. when filling out an application form, according to a complaint filed in Gallatin County District Court. But when the employee entered Kalonde’s occupation into a computer database, he wrote that the professor “cleans toilets,” the complaint charges. The incident exposed Kalonde to “hatred, contempt [and] ridicule,”...

COLUMBIA – Scout Boats, a designer and manufacturer of luxury coastal fishing boats, is expanding its existing Dorchester County operations, the S.C. Department of Commerce announced Thursday. The company is adding multiple new boat models to its product catalog, bringing $10.9 million of capital investment and creating 370 new jobs. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Summerville, Scout Boats designs and manufactures a wide variety of luxury coastal fishing boats, including center-console, dual-console and bay-boat models. Ranging from 17 feet to 53 feet lengths, Scout Boats’ products can be found in more than 70 dealers across the nation and the...

Or you'll end up like this guy. Getting a good photo of the big lunker you just caught has never been easier than it is in today's age of cell phones and small digital cameras. Now you just have to remember that the big fish you just pulled out of the water wants back in real bad. Here's how you get a wet photo of your fishing buddy: To the guy taking the video and laughing his head off: enjoy it now because your time is coming. After that, raise your hand if you or your fishing partner have lost...

House lawmakers kicked off their effort to push back against national monuments designations, targeting the large swaths of ocean the Obama administration made off limits to fishing. “I don’t believe the Antiquities Act should have ever been applied to oceans,” Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young said during a Wednesday hearing on marine monument designations. “There was never intent of that.” Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources have long criticized former President Barack Obama’s use of the Antiquities Act to put millions of square miles off limits to commercial fishing with little to no input from locals. With President...

A volatile buildup of weapons and resentment along the northern Somali coast culminated in the hijack of an oil freighter this week, the first such seizure by Somali pirates since 2012, experts and locals told Reuters on Wednesday. Gunmen hijacked the Aris 13, a small oil tanker, on Monday and are demanding a ransom to release the ship and its eight Sri Lankan crew, the EU Naval Force that patrols the waters off Somalia said. Now shipping companies are scrambling to find out whether the attack is a one-off, or whether pirates could once again threaten one of the world's...

A coalition of commercial fishing groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to challenge the creation of a national monument off the coast of New England. President Barack Obama created the monument in September using executive authority under the Antiquities Act. The monument is called the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, and it is made up of nearly 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains. The creation of the monument closed the area to most commercial fishing and has been opposed by fishing groups for months. A coalition of the groups filed their lawsuit Tuesday in federal court....